The Supreme Court of Guam Wednesday overturned the conviction of a man previously found guilty of armed robbery and other crimes.

Justices determined that the trial court shouldn't have allowed evidence that David Villena Quitugua Jr. already was facing felony charges in a separate case at the trial.

In 2013, Quitugua was arrested after allegedly robbing a pawn shop and leading police on a chase along Marine Corps Drive.

Just before trial, Quitugua's defense attorney noted he and the prosecution agreed to stipulate Quitugua was out on bail on pretrial release in a separate case at the time of the incident.

Prosecutors agreed there was a stipulation but said they planned to tell the jury about it.

Prejudice

Quitugua's status of being on pretrial release was something that would affect his sentence, but the defense argued it would prejudice the jury against Quitugua, so Quitugua's counsel objected, saying "it would be prejudicial to the defendant to have the jury be aware of his pretrial release status," the court's opinion states.

The judge, who wasn't identified in the opinion, said the law requires "any fact" that increases a penalty to be submitted to jurors. As a result, the judge allowed prosecutors to reference that in their opening statement to jurors.

The defense also objected later in the trial when prosecutors questioned Quitugua about his previous crimes.

In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled the stipulation meant Quitugua's pretrial release status shouldn't have been put to the jury.

That's because Quitugua "knowingly and intelligently waived his Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury as to that fact," the opinion states.

Going off that, the high court determined the judge's decision hurt Quitugua's case because the prosecution's statements and questioning "portrayed Quitugua as a habitual criminal offender."

As a result, the court reversed Quituga's conviction and vacated his sentence.